This invention relates to gear assemblies, and more particularly, to planetary carrier gear assemblies.
Specifically, this invention relates to planetary gear assemblies wherein the mounting spindles for the pinion gears are limited in relative rotary and axial movement in the carrier assembly. The prior art gear carrier structures generally prevent relative rotation and axial movement of the spindles by welding or staking the spindles to the carrier side plates.
An improvement on this assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,212 issued to Fuehrer, July 12, 1988, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The Fuehrer patent teaches the use of a flat surface and a locking ring disposed in combination to limit the rotary motion and axial motion of the spindle relative to the carrier in one direction. The spindles are mounted in aligned apertures, wherein the one opposite the locking ring structure is drilled with a stepped diameter to limit the axial motion in one direction. This structure requires some care in the drilling of the stepped diameter, since the shoulder created by such structure has to be maintained within a predetermined distance from the retaining ring locating structure in order that excess axial movement does not occur.